Exercise and Fitness - high intensity interval posting

[Iskaral Pust]

I'm down to 176lbs despite lots of travel in recent weeks with too much restaurant food.  I'm getting pretty cut but I'm also back to my eternal problem: I still have an ectomorph body type.  Even when pretty muscular, I'm still relatively skinny.  I didn't like when I added more body fat, and I've maintained my weight lifting despite the drop in body weight (mostly fat or water), but I'm at a plateau again.  I'd like to continue to gain muscle, but I don't want to add fat to do so.  I think my progress may be slow.

[aceluby]

18 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I'm down to 176lbs despite lots of travel in recent weeks with too much restaurant food.  I'm getting pretty cut but I'm also back to my eternal problem: I still have an ectomorph body type.  Even when pretty muscular, I'm still relatively skinny.  I didn't like when I added more body fat, and I've maintained my weight lifting despite the drop in body weight (mostly fat or water), but I'm at a plateau again.  I'd like to continue to gain muscle, but I don't want to add fat to do so.  I think my progress may be slow.

Progress is going to be slow, at least a lot slower than it was to cut down.  Gotta play the long game.  Super athletes that are eating basically perfect diets and working out hours a day, 6 days a week, have a ceiling of ~23 lbs of lean muscle A YEAR.  Less than 2 lbs a month.  Let's say you can do half that, which means you'll be adding about a pound of muscle every month.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but you just have to keep at it and know that what you are doing for your body is getting where you want to go.  It may be at a snails pace, but it's the right direction.  I just had to have the same internal conversation with myself recently.

[Iskaral Pust]

This morning was squats, dead lifts and calf press.  I was very tight for time and low on energy before breakfast so I topped out at 200lbs for squats and 250lbs for dead lifts.  I did great sets at both of those levels but didn't feel like I had the time or energy reserves to push for another set.

Early morning workouts are going much better this year.  On weekends I exercise both days during the afternoon and then midweek I manage usually one or even two early workouts.  I aim for 3-4 workout sessions per week and I've had practically no late night sessions yet this year, so less interruptions to sleep.

[ithanos]

I agree with Ace on this one Isk. Play the long game. This quote was in my tech feed this week and it seems apt to post it here;

"Growth is a spiral process, doubling back on itself, reassessing and regrouping."
-- Julia Cameron,
photographer

[Iskaral Pust]

OK, slow grow it is.
I'll ignore those tempting internet ads that promise X-Men muscles in just a few weeks.

[Iskaral Pust]

Yesterday evening, straight after work and before dinner, I got to the gym for an upper body session: bench press, narrow Lat pull down and arms.  Usually I save that session for Saturday but I had no drop off in power and all sets went really well.  I'm a bit stiff today because of less rest days last week but I'll loosen up and do some lower body later. 

I notice when bench pressing that I tighten my lats and arch my back on the downward motion (which I think I'm supposed to), but then I feel some tightness between my shoulder blades as I push up, as if I'm on the cusp of the back muscle locking up.  No injury from it yet but I'm always worried that it might seize up mid lift. 

[baxus]

Did a lap around the lake today, one of my usual running routes. It's 8.4-8.5km (according to Runkeeper app)  and I did it in 5'40"/km. Not that fast, but not that slow either. Anyway, I felt I could do it faster but I was running with a friend who is also getting back into training and wouldn't leave him and run alone.

After that, I did 30 minutes on the rowing machine, slightly improving my previous result on that distance.

All things considered, I'm pretty happy with today's practice.

[Iskaral Pust]

Today was squats, leg extension, leg curl and calf press, with some weighted decline sit-ups to finish.  My back muscles felt a bit stiff during squats so I left out dead lifts and did leg extension and leg curls instead (I haven't done them in a while).  

Squats at 250lbs today felt pretty good. Having breakfast before workout makes a difference, provided I can wait a couple of hours to digest. 

[Starkess]

Went for my first run since I've been sick, so over two weeks. Oof. Rough. I know it was good to take the time off (I am quite sure I had bronchitis, which isn't going to be helped by running), but still. I was rusty! But I did finish the route I set myself (about 5k) and it ended up being an average time for me (29:36), so that wasn't terrible. Tomorrow I plan to do another long walk in lieu of running.

[Iskaral Pust]

That back stiffness was from my obliques and they got so stiff that I woke every time I rolled in my sleep last night.  At the end of Friday's workout, I did a couple of sets on obliques, after ignoring them for a few months because it had felt too easy.  I guess I ignored them too long.  The good news is that I didn't notice any leg stiffness today, all I could feel were those obliques.

 

Today was shoulder press, wide lat pull down, lat raises and arms.  All good.  That's seven sessions in nine days.  I'll try to keep it up this week, aside from some travel, because the following week I'll have an enforced rest at my in-laws. 

[aceluby]

This weekend was kind of crazy workout-wise.  Had an hour and a half class on Friday that felt pretty good before having dinner for my brother's birthday.  Saturday I did an early morning yoga session where my mom ditched me, but I figured I was up anyway so I might as well go.  That afternoon was the spring solstice class where we did 108 sun salutations in 100 degree heat.  Holy mother of god was that one of the most difficult things I've ever done.  Yesterday I did a really easy "IPA & Namaste" class at a local brewery, which was really fun and low key.  Last night I did a flow and hatha class that felt pretty good, but I could tell I was physically exhausted.

Paying for it today.  I think I might have pulled something in my back which is making it hurt whenever I lift my left arm.  Today is my rest day anyway, but I'm also taking Tuesday off and will see how I feel on Wed.  If it's still not 100% I'll just wait until Thursday before starting back up again.  May try and find a massage therapist to see if they can work it out.

[aceluby]

dp

[aceluby]

Triple post?  Wow

[aceluby]

wtf

[3CityApache]

Lol, qp is really something. The system needs refreshing I guess.

I still manage to run every other day. Almost 80 km so far this month. But apart from the pain in my knee I started to feel a pain in my left calf as well, so I might just take it easy tonight: six km max at a very moderate pace.

Other than that I feel great. And I stopped to lose weight, which is good, cause 75 kg is where I want to be.

[The BlackBear]

15 minutes ago, Leap said:

So as it transpires, I've been doing squats all wrong. Or rather, I haven't been doing them at all - I've been doing dead-lifts instead. I'm not particularly bothered since there doesn't appear to be enough of a difference that it would matter to an amateur like me.

I'm confused, how is there not much difference between a squat and a Deadlift?

[baxus]

1 hour ago, The BlackBear said:

I'm confused, how is there not much difference between a squat and a Deadlift?

And how could one confuse the two?

[The BlackBear]

Well they look totally different apart from the slight squat at the start of a deadlift, but it's not as a deep as a normal squat. A deadlift involves pulling with your back, a squat is pushing with your legs, your back is mostly just stabilising you. A deadlift also massively involves grip in a way a squat doesn't.

Are you exercising at home? (I'm going by the home made bar (what exactly is a homemade bar?) Because you won't be able to squat properly without a rack to put the weights on to start with.

Either way do both, they're pretty much the two core weight lifts.

[Iskaral Pust]

Leap - I'm not the expert by a long way but you should be aiming for a dead lift to be mostly lower back.  Your glutes, quads and hamstrings have a secondary role, but it should be your lower back delivering most of the force, with your arms feeling a lot of strain from holding such a heavy weight.  My hamstrings feel stiff after dead lifting, but it's definitely my back that's lifting the weight.  Minimize the knee bend, keep the back arched as you go from bent at the waist to upright, draw your shoulders back slightly as you go up.

My brother was taught to dead lift in a gym by a PT and his technique looks like a weird version of a hack squat: he bends his legs fully and there is hardly any change in the angle of his lower back through the motion.  I had to tell him that isn't a dead lift.

[ithanos]

Leap,

the more I perform Deadlifts and Squats the more I'm fascinated with their nuance.

Squats done properly pretty much target your entire body. The first thoughts when new to the moment is that it targets your legs - mainly because you see your quads do most of the work, right? Yes its a leg workout, but so much more - and this becomes evident the heavier you lift!

recall the mantra that's been posted here a few times, about how to work your core without getting anywhere near a sit up or crunch - "hold heavy weights above your head".  well with the bar sitting across your upper shoulder, even before your begin the eccentric (down) phase, you're stabilizing that weight, with tension in your grip and arms to brace that bar to your shoulder and upper back. All of these muscle groups should be in tension as you start the down phase. But what else is working here? Your core, engaged already when you were at the start position, is now called upon for stability though range of movement as your hip begins to dip and move back when you squat. The heavier the weight you squat the more your core is engaged!

(From a personal pov, I've found my limiting factor in the maximum weight I can squat is not the strength of my legs, but the strength of my back and core to support maximum weight.)

Deadlifts fascinate me at the moment. If you're one of the lucky few who are flexible enough to bend over a bar, with straight back and minimal bend at hip or knee then you'll be using your lower back as the engine for the movement, with arms, shoulders and upper back only there to brace the weight. But if you're like the rest of us mortals then knees will be bent and hips further back - in which case you will need to engage your glutes and hams first to 'press the ground away from you' before bringing in the lower back to drive your hip forward as you stand upright.